Liquid fuel burner



Jan. 29, 1935. w. B. KERRICK 1,989,421

LIQUID FUEL BURNER' Filed April 13, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l O T N E V Q w .2 m v a 7 Afr mv My W MW 3Q Y ffii WALTER B. KERR}. BY I ATTORNEY.

Jan. 29, 1935. w. B. KERRICK LIQUID FUEL BURNER Filed A ril 13, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR'.

WALTER B. KERFjl/C. BY W ATTORNEY.

A UNI-TED srArEs PATENT This invention relates OFFICE mum FUEL BURNER- Walter B. Kerrick, Los

Angeles, Oalii'., aasignor,

by mesne assignments, to Chemical a. Company, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Application April 13,

2 Claims.

to improvements in a liquid fuel burner, and more particularly to the generation of fuel gas from liquid fuel.

Among the objects of the invention are to com- 5 pletely vaporize, expand and carburet liquid fuel,

so that combustion will be efficient, free from noxious fumes, ash, carbon and other precipitates.

Another object is to provide a compact portable apparatus.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the description progresses.

Fig. 2 is a plan view from above, showing one '7 form of fire pot for adapting the burning of the gas to cylindrical upright water heaters and the like.

Fig. 3 is a detail view in vertical section of a modified form of gas intake for the fire pot.

In detail the construction illustrated in the drawings, referring to Fig. 1,- comprises the internal combustion motor A of any desired type.

The motor shown is particularly desirable for the purpose because it is small, compact and regularly equipped with the blowers 1--2 on opposite sides of the motor base and adapted to discharge the cold air taken in at 3, through the enclosing casings 4-4 against the cylinder headfi.

The starting or priming fuel isfcontained in the tank 5, and piped t o the carbureter '7 attached to the intake pipe"8 of the motor. The speed of the motor is controlled by the throttle 9 and the products of combustion escape through the exhaust pipe 10. The structure and operation of the motor is conventional in every way.;

In the drawings the motor is shown slightly in perspective for illustrative purposes. In portable outfits the motor bed 11 is fixed on the same platform with the burner or other utility.

In the present instance the burner comprises the cylindrical fire box 12 having the floor 13. The fire pot 14 of refractory material rests upon the floor 13 and has the upstanding wall 14 with the hollow neck 15.

The fire box has the 1931, Serial N 529,605 (er 158-76) 17 fits snugly on the thimble and has the closed end 18 to form the mixing chamber 19. I

The blower 1 of the motor is modifiedby the segmental plate 20 inserted therein to form a casing encircling the fan blades 21. The outlet pipe 22 joins the blower l and the chamber 19.

The exhaust pipe 10 passes through the cover 18 and ends in front of and coaxial with the neck 15. The velocity of the exhaust gases passing through the neck 15 pulls the atmosphere in the W chamber 19 through the neck 15, in addition'to the velocity therein created by the blower discharge through the pipe 22. If it is desired to increase the air velocity through the neck 15 it can be given a. Venturi contour as shown at 23 in the modified form in Fig. 3.

The fuel tube 24 extends into and is located along the axis of the exhaust pipe 10 in the form of a nozzle as at 25, whereby the fuel is vaporized by the heat and velocity of the exhaust gases. The fuel from the remote tank 26 is controlled by the-valve 27.

The volume of flame, is controlled by the valve 27 and the speed of the motor 4, by the throttle valve at 9. These two valve controls are synchronized by the link 28, so that opening the throttle also admits more fuel through the valve 27. The length of the link may be adjusted by the turnbuck1e29 to regulate the proportion of fuel to the volume of exhaust from the motor. This refinement can be dispensed with in many installations, because the volume of exhaust gases at average motor speed will serve to vaporize a wide range of fuel volume by independent control, by independent control of the motor throttle valve 9 and the fuel valve 2?.

Attention is directed to my copending applications relating to Fluid heaters,'filed November 14, 1930, bearing Serial Number 495,636, and Thermostatic controls, filed November 14, 1930, bear- 4 ing Serial Number 495,635, both of which may be combined with the present invention for accurately proportioning heat input to vapor output.

The thermostat tube 30 may be fixed across the fire box 12. The output of the heater, not shown, above the fire box may be carried through the tube 30. The expansive member 31 of the thermostat has the rack 32 engaging the head 33 of the lever 34 pivoted at 35, so that the expansion and contraction of the expansive member will oscillate the lever 34. This oscillation is communicated through the link 36 to the throttle arm 9 to vary the speed of the motor in synchronism with the rise and fall of temperature in the heater.

thimble 1s surrounding the neck 15. The cap Th rueimixture is i nited by the pilot tube 7 connected with the fuel pipe 24 and controlled by the valve -38. The fuel dripping from the pilot collects on the refractory wall of the fire pot above the outlet 39 of the neck 15, where it is easily lighted through the pilot hole 40.

This invention operates substantiallyas follows: The fuel in the nozzle. 25 is vaporized by the heat of the exhaust from the motor A. This vaporized fuel is sucked from the nozzle by the velocity of the exhaust gases with which it commingles and is further vaporized and atomized by the turbulent exhaust. Passing across the chamber 19 the added fuel gases carburet the air blown therein through the pipe 22 and the mixture ignites only as it enters the fire pot.

This invention consumes all the unburned fuel discharged by the motor. The products of combustion within the fire pot are practically odorless, almost incandescent in color and intensity, and leave no soot or ash and are smokeless.

The exact form of fire pot is determined by the particular use to which the burner is applied. For a confined turbulent flame desirable for the use suggested above,'the fire pot maybe provided with baflies such as 41-42-43, or otherwise mod-' ified tomold the shape of the flame issuing at 39.

The burner is shown in the combination only to adapt it to the particular uses recited in the above copending applications.

This invention is equally applicable to the gen eration of producer gas, which may be collected at the point 39 and fed back into the motor A, after the same is started, instead of carbureting raw fuel as at 'I. This is obviously possible by the extension 8' of the intake into the chamber 19; sealing the opening 39 and shutting off the motor fuel from the tank 5.

The motor requires a high grade of fuel, such as gasoline, for starting, while the gas in the chamber 19 is generated from low grade fuel, such as #3 tops from the tank 26. The gas in the chamber 19 will run the motor with greater efiiciency and economy than is possible with any carbureted raw fuel such as gasoline. If a high grade motor fuel'is put in the tank 26 and piped to.the carbureter 7 through the valve and pipe 26'-26", the intake and exhaust of the motor A can both be carbureted from the same source 26. The intakes 8-8 should be pfqgided with the choke valves (la-6b, so that the oxidation of the.

intake can be properly proportioned after the intake extension 8' is opened after the motor Av warms up.

The gases generated by carbureting the exhaust do not ignite in the chamber 19, as might be supposed. If the chamber-19 is of suflicient capacity to allow for proper oxidation, the gas can be piped therefrom for use at remote points, or compressed into tanks, or fed into other internal combustion motors;

A small one horsepower unit such as herein disclosed has suflicient capacity to produce gas for commercial boilers, prime movers and other demands for gas, many times the power of the,

producer unit.

Having thus described this invention what is claimed and desired to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A liquid fuel burner including a fire box havingan intake neck; a mixing chamber enclosing the entrance to said neck; an internal combustion motor having its exhaust pipe terminating within said chamber opposite the entrance to said 

